I have a lot of concerns and frustrations with matchmaking right now, and I want to begin by saying I truly love all things halo and want to say these things in a way that is provocative because I really want to keep halo alive and kickin! (disclaimer: I’m just a fan, my KD is 1.1, pretty good considering i was -1000 for the first several months after release, not hardcore MLG so please don’t rage at me too much, Id be happy to learn new things if I’m in error).
So lets sprinkle some crap dressing on this suck-salad!!
>DLC
So, to start, wtf is the problem with the DLC? I bought the limited edition and champions bundle, and with the exception of the DLC playlists (which are no longer available) I’ve kept count of how many matches I’ve gotten to play the ‘new maps’ in other playlists… since september 13 till now (oct. 19) I have played 11 matches on the new maps in hundreds of match-made games. why??? especially when so many players choose what I think is the worst map in halo history, abandon, and since I got the limited edition with the whole season pass (which has so far been money wasted). Why isn’t there a playlist for DLC still, for those of us that want some variety in our lives???
(repetitive options)-(DLC opportunities)+(over use of -Yoink- [aka Abandon])= 0 fun
>BlACK SCREEN FREQUENCY AND CHEATING
Also, the cheating and black screens. Why is it so easy to mod programs and get aimbots? And I had 5 black screens in 3 games minutes before deciding to post this, even tho I upgraded to the fastest and most stable connection in my area ( a strong 20 mbps from cable, which was getting 21.3 at the time when i tested it). Ill be happy to learn if its some problem on my end bc I’m not a real techie but the rage that these breakdowns in what SHOULD BE easy, fun, COMPETITIVE matches gives me is not ideal.
(Aim bot)+(black screen)-(joy of playing on even terms)+(lag)= noobs cheating and winning
>RANKING
What is the point of the experience based system? you could lose every match and go neg every time and still eventually unlock everything. Honestly, Reach was not my favorite game at all but the credit system for armor is 10000x better than experience based, because replay value was existent. why can’t we see CSR ranks outside of waypoint? is that even the basis for matchmaking anymore? BC CSR feels like a pathetic attempt to retrieve fans that were lost due this game’s deviation from the principles of halo 3 matchmaking. Part of the reason I’m posting this is bc a lot of my friends that I used to play H3 with despise H4 bc of no rankings and more traces of Reach and COD than H3 in the game.
(CSR)+(no clue how matches are set up)-(H3 genealogy)+(experience based leveling)=confusion+nausea
>DOMINION
Also, who made the decision to create rotating playlists? were any gamers consulted? because one of the things that kept me going was the fun and mayhem of dominion, which was SEVERELY limited when 343 changed the weapons spawns to include almost exclusively precision weapons, and has now been taken away all together until december? and why was extraction not part of that playlist? and why do the new maps NEVER appear in the playlist, when there are a few large ones that may be fun to play Dominion (of course, i don’t know this for sure because the most time I’ve spent in the DLC maps is solo exploration in custom games right after they were released). And why exactly were the power weapons so aggressively removed in the first place? BC lasers + Dominion was one of my favorite things about this game. And the fact that the playlist was removed when I was 32 wins from completing the Dominion mastery is the icing on the rage cake 343 has been feeding me these last few weeks.
(Dominion)-(power weapons)-(DLC)-(any dominion playlist)= watered down experience and even less variety
>CONTACTING 343 ABOUT IT ALL
So why, for the love of GOD, the MASTER CHIEF, and HALO can’t we talk to someone at 343 about this game directly? I get that social media is what it’s all about now, but the impression I get is that 343 is afraid of comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions. I have never seen a 343 rep comment on a youtube vid by MLG pros, or in fact to any meaningful question yet. I’d love to know why that is. Bungie did not make that mistake, and distancing gamers from the development community stinks of COD to me. Which, BTW, is one of my most favorite things about Halo; it shouldn’t play at all like a modern war shooter, it should play like a game based on a badass superhuman with energy shields. The changes toward faster, CODish gameplay is what’s on more minds than my own, and is what I would love to have a MEANINGFUL dialogue about it with 343, as opposed to BS forum posts like this one.
I’m sorry to be so negative, but I see no other way to be heard. If 343 can refute everything I have posted I welcome them to do so, because at least I would feel like the >$100 I have spent on this game meant something. Because I do love Halo and want it to be more relevant than that garbage being sold as COD; but what I’m left with is day-dreams of Halo 3 and the hardcore gameplay that was simply unmatched. I lost even more often, and raged even more at halo 3, but that was different; people were way better than me at that game, and I rarely lost because some kid that didn’t know halo modded the game. And brings me to my final point. I totally get that bringing new gamers to the franchise is paramount, but who stopped to think about the gamers LOST because of what feels like beta-quality matchmaking? Is there anyone out there that had a 40+ in Halo 3 playlists that says H4 is better? I have never met anyone online or face to face that says so, but I do still play with friends that rigorously maintain 45-50 in Halo 3 playlists that consist of only the most hardcore players? And who can honestly say that the populations of H4 come close to those of H3 one year after release? If (WHEN) 343 responds, I’d be happy to tell them about all the things I do like (Dominion+extraction, dmr and br choices, carbine, graphics, SOME maps). Right AFTER I hear what other gamers and 343 themselves have to say to my specific criticisms. Thank you for reading
PS, does anyone else experience a failure of the waypoint app on anything other than a windows device? I can never see my H4 stats anymore, and the search waypoint function doesn’t have a button or command that lets you execute the search. Obviously the allegiance is to Microsoft, but how petty and foolish do you have to be to NOT REALIZE that having an app that works on iPhone too is rising above competition and proving to gamers that they are the most important part of the franchise??